


There and Back Again

by Whedonista93



Series: Queen of Dale [5]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, Gen, Orcs, Rings of Power
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:41:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25546858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whedonista93/pseuds/Whedonista93
Summary: A year after Buffy is thrown back into her old world, a glimmer of hope comes in the form of an old enemy.
Relationships: Buffy Summers/Bard the Bowman
Series: Queen of Dale [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1577443
Comments: 9
Kudos: 50





	There and Back Again

After a year back in her own world, Buffy kind of loses hope that she’ll ever get back home. It might be possible if Dawn was willing to help, but she still refuses. Watching her sister grow more and more indrawn and hollow doesn’t seem to make a difference. Buffy fades to the point that most of the group is having flashbacks to when she came back from heaven - she’s just going through the motions. Dawn doesn’t see it that way - she simply refuses to lose her sister again.

She goes on patrols. She trains junior Slayers. She eats when she has to. She doesn’t sleep. She can’t sleep… it’s been two decades since she slept alone and she finds that she can’t sleep without Bard’s warmth beside her.

It’s a month after she’s given up hope that a squad of junior Slayers brings in a demon that no one recognizes, still snarling and spitting in a language that no one understands. Research still isn’t Buffy’s strong suit, so she doesn’t pay much attention until she hears Giles muttering under his breath in a language she hasn’t heard in over a year.

She spins on him. “What did you say?!”

Giles looks up, startled. “I haven’t the slightest idea. It’s something the demon said. I’m still trying to work out what language it is.”

“Sindarin,” Buffy breathes.

“What?”

“Where’s the demon?”

“In the gym, guarded by- Buffy?”

The Slayer is already gone, sprinting toward the gym. Giles groans and runs after her - he’s really getting too old for this. The last thing he expects when he reaches the gym, right behind Buffy, is the Alpha Slayer to be laughing hysterically.

“Buffy?” He asks, a bit breathlessly.

Buffy collects herself and shakes her head. “It’s not a demon.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“It’s not a demon. It’s an orc.”

“What in the bloody hell is an orc?”

Buffy beams at him, the first real expression besides despair he’s seen on her in months. “A creature from Middle Earth.” With that, she strides forward and crouches in front of the beast and begins speaking slowly, clearly, _fluently_ in the language it’s been snarling for days; it sounds much prettier rolling off the Slayer’s tongue. Whatever she says has the creature flinching back and then babbling madly. When it silences, Buffy nods, straightens, takes an axe from one of the Slayers guarding it, and cuts off its head with no further ado.

“How did it get here?”

Buffy just shakes her head, but doesn’t protest when he follows. She digs into the back of her closet until, with a triumphant shout, she emerges with the dress she was wearing when she returned to their world. She grabs a dagger off her desk, carefully cuts the lining, and pulls a plain gold ring out of the hem.

Giles looks baffled. “A ring?”

Buffy holds it up to the light. “It doesn’t, at least it _shouldn’t_ , have any power here, but in Middle Earth… nothing really compares. Bringing it here might have weakened the barriers between our worlds. Its master wants it back.”


End file.
